Erik Bradford had
two goals in his first game back in Barrie after being traded to the Ottawa 67’s.
In the end his returned was spoiled as the
67’s dropped a 7-3 decision to the Barrie Colts on Saturday night.
Bradford was welcomed back with a loud round of applause. He spent over three years as a member of the
Barrie Colts before being involved in a trade with the 67’s which sent Joseph Blandisi the other way. Since the trade, both players have performed well
for their new clubs. Bradford has 9
goals and 23 points in his first 13 games.
Meanwhile, Blandisi has 3 goals and 13 points through 10 games as a
Colt. Blandisi has been sidelined for the
last two games with an upper body injury. He did not play tonight.
Both teams had several chances in the opening frame, but it
was only the Barrie Colts that capitalized.
Building off the momentum from a John
Urbanic/Nick Pastorious tilt, Garrett
Hooey opened the scoring just moments later.
Hooey was left alone out front and shot the puck on the sharp angle for the
1-0 lead. Tyson Faucett gave the Colts a 2-0 lead after he scored off a slap
shot to the right side of Liam Herbst in the 67’s net.
The second period was much worse for the 67’s. They allowed 17 shots on Herbst who suited up
for only his 5th game. Herbst gave them every
chance to win, but the Colts’ offense was too strong.
Andrew Mangiapane
& Aaron Ekblad combined for two
more goals to give the Colts a 4-0 lead after two frames.
“Our team has been in a little been of a slump lately. But
it's good to come back and get those four quick goals in this game and hopefully
finish it off strong here,” said Josh Carrick
in the second intermission.
After going down 4-0 in the first 40 minutes, the 67’s came
out of the gate flying in the final frame.
Travis Konecny got the 67’s
on the board with a gorgeous wrist shot just 19 seconds into the period. Only 15 seconds later, Erik Bradford scored
his first goal of the night to cut the lead in half. He would add his second goal of the night
about one and a half minutes later.
The 67’s caught the Colts on their heels and out played them
during this time. Suddenly, the Colts
woke up. After allowing 3 straight
opposition goals, they scored three straight of their own. Justin
Scott, Brendan Lemieux and Andrew Athanasiou scored for the Colts
to bury the 67’s in a 7-3 loss.
With the playoffs are still possible, the 67’s got some help
from the Sudbury Wolves tonight. The
Wolves blasted the Niagara IceDogs 7-1 tonight.
This leaves Ottawa in 9th place in the East; 3 points back of Niagara
and 6 points back of the Steelheads. The
67’s have 1 and 2 games in hand.
“They didn't trade for me just to go home on March 16th. They traded for me to help the young guys out help get them into the playoffs here. Coming over that's definitely my goal and we have a chance so we just got to take advantage of it,” said Erik Bradford in the first intermission.
The 67’s have the chance to get one step closer when they
face Sean Day and the Mississauga
Steelheads tomorrow afternoon.
Game summary, here.
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